


Amser Yn Dweud: Sws Sws, Bowns Bowns

by SammiJMB



Series: Amser Yn Dweud (Time Will Tell) [2]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2018-12-11 13:03:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11714958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SammiJMB/pseuds/SammiJMB
Summary: Following on from 'Amser A Ddengys: Croeso Nôl', my take on the events of the season two opener 'Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang', but from Ianto's new perspective as an 'outsider'. But does anyone ever really leave Torchwood?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Firstly, my sincere apologies to anyone who has been waiting for me to continue this series. At the risk of this note turning into a mini-blog, I have allowed myself to be overwhelmed and distracted by a number of things; full time work, single-parenting a teenager, etc. Plus I'm not very good at squeezing out time for myself in order to sit down and write - which is annoying as, when I was in my teens/early twenties I wrote on the bus daily! I also prefer to do my writing in a notepad, since I find a blank peice of paper less intimidating than a blank document file...
> 
> I had more of this story written on an old laptop, and in old notebooks, but I've struggled to find them following an unexpected relocation a few years ago, so I'm having to recreate/start from scratch. I also intend to base some of the series on one or two of the storylines in season two, but using this different perspective I'm working from. To that end, I'm grateful to have found the incredibly useful transcripts on Chakoteya.net - a print out of the epsiode I'm working on is with me at all times while I write, and I scribble narrative suggestions in the margins. 
> 
> I haven't entirely finished this story yet, but I do now have a couple of chapters worth to share with you. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> (Updating the title of this story, as I'm still learning Welsh and apparently Google translate is getting better at it too!)

_Bloody Torchwood..._

You couldn't escape the chaos even after you quit, mused Ianto, gripping the door handle for dear life as he sat in the back of the SUV. Who the hell let Owen drive in the first place!

“-species not on record,” Tosh was saying from beside him, “DNA type says some sort of land fish?”

“All I'm saying is, you are speeding and there are children.” Gwen clearly agreed with Ianto's opinion of Owen's driving.

“Well, if kids are out at midnight they've got it coming!” the medic shot back with his usual sarcasm.

It was supposed to have been a nice, quiet evening, just Ianto and Tosh catching up over a drink at the Eli Jenkins – always a popular choice since it was right above the Hub – but they'd been interrupted by Gwen and Owen demanding Tosh join them to hunt down some bipedal fish-headed alien they'd never encountered before. Ianto could have just said goodbye and watched them speed off without him, but old habits die hard and now he found himself careening through the deserted streets of Whitchurch.

And he had a shift at the museum in the morning...

“Detecting high levels of algae...” Tosh reported, still frantically plugging away at her laptop.

“Who's afraid of the big scary fish then?” Gwen taunted Owen from the front passenger seat.

“Big fish with a gun.” Owen grumbled.

“Special weapons?” Ianto couldn't resist asking, reaching for the handgun kept stored in the back of the seat in front of him.

“Not that I can see.” said Tosh

“Do _we_ need special weapons?” Ianto clarified. Owen lifted his gaze to the rear view mirror and shot him a scowl that clearly said 'What's this 'we', mate?' then asked Tosh, “What're we gonna do when we catch it?”

“Jack would know...”

“Yeah, well Jack's not here! Jack's disappeared! Fat lot of good Jack is!”

He did have a point, Ianto mused. Jack was supposed to be on-call tonight, but he wasn't answering his phone. The tracker on it was offline, so he must have gone as far as to switch it off.

“Blowfish!” exclaimed Gwen, spotting the red tail-lights of the stolen sports car the alien was driving. Ianto tightened his grip on the door handle as the SUV sped up in pursuit. They tore through the streets, and were soon catching up with the other car.

“Hold the wheel.” Owen told Gwen, unbuckling his seatbelt with one hand. Ianto felt his heart drop into his stomach, at the same time Gwen responded with a horrified “Don't you dare, Owen!”

“Hold the wheel!” he insisted, grabbing his gun. Since the alternative was the car crashing, and possibly killing them all, Gwen had no choice but to reach over and hold the steering wheel steady.

“Right, got it.”

Ianto watched anxiously as Owen leaned halfway out of the side window and took aim at the sports car. He fired off a couple of shots, hitting one of the car's rear wheels and causing it to swerve as it turned a corner. Owen slipped back into the driver's seat, talking back control of the SUV and following the crippled sports car into a cul-de-sac.

They found it abandoned in the middle of the road, engine still running, but with no sign of the driver. 

“Where is it?” said Gwen, looking around, “Where's it gone?”

Suddenly there were gunshots from one of the semi-detached houses nearby.

“Go, go, go!” yelled Owen, and they all ran in the direction of the noise. Ianto briefly wondered if he should hang back, but instinct had him already keeping pace with the others.

The door of the house was wide open, giving them easy access to the chaos within. The fish-headed alien was holding a gun to a very frightened teenage girl, and a man lay bleeding on the floor of the living room while a woman stood paralysed with fear. Evidently these were the family that lived in the house. Quickly assessing the situation, Owen prompted the others into position surrounding the alien and his hostage, while he checked on the wounded man.

Tosh was scanning the alien with her ever-present PDA, “Massive levels of adrenalin, mixed with approximately three grams of cocaine,” She reported anxiously, “This fish is _wired_!”

That did explain the strange mix of anticipation and careless disregard the alien was exuding, Ianto thought. It seemed excited by the chaos it was causing, but unconcerned about the possible consequences. The same couldn't be said of the teenage girl in his grip, however. Rather understandably, she looked extremely scared and bewildered.

“So, this is Team Torchwood,” the alien sneered, regarding them all with scorn, “The Teacher's Pets – but Teacher's gone, hasn't he? Leaving the kiddy-kids all alone. And look at you – trying so hard to be grown up!” He focused on each of them in turn, “The doctor, with his hands full of blood. The carer, with her oh-so-beating heart. The technician, with her cold devices. Which leaves me with the office boy, promoted beyond his measure.” He stared at Ianto, who was trying to look like he always pointed guns at people. It was always best to let the villain monologue, Jack had told him once, since it gave you time to regroup and plan your next move. This one obviously had out-dated information, if he thought that Jack was still missing and Ianto still officially part of Torchwood.

“All of you lost without your master,” Dear lord, he still wasn't done ranting... “All of you, so scared!” The alien broke off his rant to give the poor girl he held a wet, slobbering kiss. The sight turned Ianto's stomach with disgust and sympathy. 'Fish-face's gaze was soon back on him, though “So, what about it, _minion_? Can you do it? How good _are_ you? How sharp is your aim? What if you kill her? What if _I_ kill her _first_? Can you shoot before I do?” He was obviously getting to the end of his nerve now, becoming frantic, “Can you? _Dare you_?”

Could he? Sure, he was trained, and by one of the best around. It might have been some time since he was last 'in the field', but it wasn't a skill easily lost.

“Would you?” The alien cried, “ _Won't you_?”

It was no good – he was going to have to take this bastard down, and hope to all that was good and just the girl remained unharmed-

Before he could pull the trigger, the decision was mercifully taken out of his hands as a shot rang out and blood bloomed in the centre of the alien's oversized forehead. For a moment, Ianto wondered if he actually _had_ fired, but then he heard a familiar chuckle behind him.

“Hey kids!” smirked Jack, “Did ya miss me?”


	2. Chapter 2

Being back inside the Hub was certainly not feeling the way Ianto expected. Tosh, Gwen and Owen were a buzz of activity, tossing questions and instructions at each other as they catalogued and processed the night's events, and Ianto couldn't help but get caught up in it again. He also noticed that the remaining Torchwood officers were deliberately paying Jack no attention whatsoever. In turn, the man's bemused, hurt silence showed his equal surprise at this development.

“Are you sure no more like him came through?” Gwen was asking Tosh.

“Cross-referencing with the Rift activity monitor... doesn't look like it.”

“The car's been impounded. I'll take it back to the owner in the morning.” Ianto offered, receiving a tense, but grateful smile from Gwen before she turned to Owen for his report.

“Bio-profile's online now. Nothing in his genetic make-up liable to contaminate the city.”

“Okay. Tosh, can you add that to the species database? Ianto?” 

Ianto turned in surprise at being addressed once more, “Hello?”

Gwen gave him a wry smile, “Sorry. Can you deal with the body when it's cold?”

Ianto nodded – they always did prefer to delegate this particular task to him when he was on the team, and he didn't mind a quick trip to the sub-levels. “My pleasure,” he replied, jokingly mimicking his best 'Victorian Butler' persona, “And I'll be making sushi.”

That seemed to help Gwen relax a little as she snorted in amusement, “No, the Morge'll do fine, thank you.”

Ianto inclined his head in acknowledgement, choosing to stay in character a moment longer.

“Got pretty organised without me.” observed Jack, from the other side of the room, and suddenly the tension in the room rocketed skywards again.

“Yeah, well. We had to.” Gwen bit out.

“I mean, did you decorate in here-” Jack's seemingly blithe comments came to an abrupt halt as Gwen lunged for him and shoved him hard. The hurt on his face pulled at Ianto's heart, but Gwen's own expression was so similar that he stood his ground. The others also chose to just watch, recognising that this was a confrontation that needed to happen.

“You left us, Jack!” Gwen exclaimed hotly.

Jack sighed, “I know. I'm sorry.”

“We knew nothing, Jack! Where were you? And not just tonight – you still haven't properly explained where you disappeared to for so long!”

Ianto sighed heavily. When was Jack going to learn not to be so closed off with the people he cared about.

“I found my doctor,” was all Jack seemed to be prepared to say at that moment. While his expression was apologetic, there was a hard edge of defensiveness.

“Did he fix you?” Owen asked

Jack gave him one of his fake, charismatic smiles that fooled no-one in the room – least of all Ianto. “What's to fix? You don't mess with this level of perfection.”

Normally, such a comment would get a snort out of Ianto, or at least an eyeroll, but the tension in the room was still too high, and he was still too caught up in it.  
“Are you going back to him?” He couldn't help but ask, insecurity rearing its ugly head once more. Jack fixed him with a look that clearly read 'We've been over this!'

“I came back for you.” Jack held Ianto's gaze for a beat, before shifting his focus to the whole team, “All of you.”

Gwen looked like she wanted to press the issue further, but the Rift Alarm chose that moment to interrupt.

'Saved by the bell' Ianto thought, wryly. Jack looked equally relieved to have something else to focus on.


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto was seriously questioning his life choices. It was the small hours of the morning, and instead of being tucked up asleep ahead of the next morning's shift at the museum, what was he doing? He was standing with PC Andy Davidson in the lane between the Wood Street NCP carpark, and the pubs on St Mary's Street, watching Jack and the team as they examined a dead body.

“Didn't think I'd be seeing you around here again, mate.” Andy observed, eyes never leaving the team. Or perhaps just Gwen's arse. “Gwen said you quit not long after Jack took off.”

“I did.” Ianto agreed, “I'm not here in any official capacity.”

“Back to trailing after Jack again, is it?” Andy glanced over at him, holding his hands up in supplication at the dark glare Ianto sent him, “Hey, no offence! It's just interesting that as soon as he shows up again, here you are, is all I'm saying.”

Ianto had to admit that the other man had a point, but merely shrugged, “I was catching up with Tosh over coffee when she got pulled in on a case – I ended up tagging along rather than head home.”

“A different case to this one?” Andy asked, fishing for details as always. But, as always, Ianto wasn't biting.

“As far as we know.” was all he'd say. The policeman looked like he was about to press further, but the team had begun to pack up and step away from the body. Jack and Gwen appeared to be butting heads again, much to Ianto's dismay.

“-see what we can piece together.” Jack was saying

“Taking charge again are you?” Gwen's expression was sour as she pressed past them, heading in Andy and Ianto's direction.

“I was hoping for a little power struggle – resolved by some naked wrestling.” Jack shot back, the hurt in his eyes making a lie of his blithe tone. Ianto winced at the number of police and Scene-of-Crime officers who were guaranteed to have overheard him.

“Thank you, Andy.” Gwen ignored Jack entirely, “You can let SOCO in now, and they can eliminate us from whatever they want.”

“This another of your spooky-do's, is it?”

“Not yet, but I'll let you know.” She walked away without even a farewell, heading for the SUV.

“Thanks, Andy, you've been very helpful.” Andy muttered bitterly, “Don't mention it, Gwen.”

Ianto clapped him on the shoulder in sympathy, then headed off to rejoin his former team-mates. 

As he helped Owen load the last of their equipment into the back of the car, there was a strange beeping noise from Jack's mysterious leather wrist-strap. “Woah, that _never_ beeps!”

“That's what I was thinking...” Jack frowned, fiddling with the controls on the device. A beam of light rose from it, coalescing into a small hologram of a man. He was dressed in a scruffy approximation of Napoleonic military wear. It was all rather Star Wars, Ianto couldn't help thinking.

“I can't believe I got the answer machine.” the holographic man grumbled, “What can you be doing that's more important than me? Anyway, you've probably traced the energy shift, found the body – all me, sorry about the mess. Bill me for the clean-up.” He looked completely unremorseful, and only a beat later was rubbing his hands in anticipation, “Now, drinks! Retrolock the transmission co-ordinates – that's where I am. And _hurry up_! Work to do!” He looked around him for a moment, “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi – you're my only hope!” The hologram disappeared, and the geeky side of Ianto would have been grinning if Jack didn't look like this heralded the end of the world.

“Stay here.” He ordered, “Don't come after me.”

“Who was that?” Gwen demanded

“Stay. Here.” Jack jumped into the SUV's driver's seat, pulling off the second the engine roared into life.

“Hey, Jack! Wait!” Gwen yelled, futilely. The four of them exchanged disbelieving looks.

“You see that!” Owen growled, “He swans back in, and then he shuts us right out!”

“I'm not having this!” Gwen scowled. Tosh was already busy on her PDA.

“I can track him?” she offered.

Ianto rolled his eyes at the inertia of his former team-mates, and headed down the lane on to Wood Street itself.

“TAXI!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I am so sorry for the amount of time it has taken to get this update ready - thank you so much to the kind souls who sent me feedback expressing that they'd like to read more. When it became obvious I wasn't going to have the time to update this as I wrote, I chose to concentrate on finishing it first - and that took longer than I hoped too! I have now got the story written out, I just need to finish typing it up.  
> As an aside, my son and I went to the Heroes and Villains Fanfest in London this past weekend, where the Torchwood cast were guests. My son decided to get up and ask them what character they would like to play besides their own, and I was very amused when Eve Myles said she would be a Blowfish!

_‘We’re tracking our friend on GPS!’ must be the twenty-first century equivalent of ‘Follow that car!’_ Ianto mused as he watched the town centre pass by the window of the taxi. The driver had been hard to convince to take them anywhere, due to the fact they hadn’t initially been able to give a specific destination and he feared a short fare, but Gwen had promised to pay double.

“Reports coming in of a bar disturbance,” Tosh said, fiddling with her ever-present PDA and carefully ignoring the predictably tense atmosphere inside the vehicle, “Same co-ordinates as the SUV.”

“Tell the Police we’re dealing with it.” Said Gwen.

“Okay, so who the hell was the bloke in the hologram?” Owen addressed the elephant in the room.

Or car, in this case.

“Jack recognised him.” Ianto observed.

Tosh frowned, “Why didn’t he let us go with him?”

“Because it’s typical Jack, isn’t it!” Gwen started to rant again, “He disappears, he comes back, then he runs away again!”

Ianto could understand her point, but he also understood Jack’s instinct to charge in solo if he felt the risk was too great. That made Ianto very nervous.

“He shuts us out!” Gwen continued, “We don’t even know his real name!”

“Or which time he comes from.” Tosh agreed. Ianto winced, hoping the driver missed that. He was all out of Retcon these days.

“Exactly!” Gwen had a good head of steam built up by this point, “He’s supposed to be our boss and we know nothing about him! Drives me crazy!”

There was a moment’s silence, before Ianto decided to comment, “It’s more fun when he’s around though.”

“Yeah.” Said Owen.

“Definitely.” Agreed Tosh

“Yeah, it is.” Gwen conceded reluctantly.

 

The SUV had been parked rather carelessly outside the now evacuated ‘Bar Reunion’ – the appropriateness of that name didn’t go unnoticed. All the evidence so far suggested they were dealing with someone of Jack’s sense of humour. That, plus the triggering of Jack’s ‘Lone Hero’ complex, had Ianto’s anxiety sky-high.

It took a little time to persuade the attending Police to let them enter the building, but ultimately they were happy to pass it over to the Torchwood team. The four of them split up to approach the bar from both sides, Ianto sticking close to Tosh. As they got close to the doors to the upstairs bar, they could hear Jack and the stranger talking.

“It’s good to see you.” The newcomer was saying, “It was never the same without you.”

“You need to go.” Jack’s tone was cold and unwelcoming, reminding Ianto of his days trying to get a job with Torchwood Cardiff. “I don’t want you on my territory.”

“What? Time was you couldn’t get enough of me on your ‘territory’!”

Ianto’s blood boiled a little at the seductive tone, and Tosh threw him a sympathetic look. One of Jack’s exes – just what they needed....

They obviously hadn’t been stealthy enough, however, as a moment later shots rang out and the windows to the doors on either side of the bar exploded. Tosh and Ianto rapidly ducked back away from the glass fragments.

“Alright, everybody out!” the stranger demanded, sounding irritated but unsurprised.

“Everything alright Jack?” they heard Gwen call, as they cautiously stepped out into view.

“It’s okay,” Jack responded, his hands outstretched in both directions, both to placate and pleading with them to keep their distance, “Okay, okay...” he was obviously incredibly rattled by their presence, even if he should have known better than to expect them not to follow him.

“You’ve got a team!” the stranger practically cooed, “How sweet!” He looked them all up and down, “Oh, pretty little friends! No blonde though – you need a blonde!”

“Oh God, he’s worse than Jack!” groaned Owen.

As the stranger babbled at Jack about team names – and expressed his disappointment at their actual one – Ianto took a moment to get a proper look at him. His clothes were even filthier and more ragged in person, and his blond hair obviously bleached that colour. His eyes were mischievous, but at the same time devious – he had a touch of Loki about him, Ianto thought, making him more dangerous than Jack, who was only ruthless when out of alternatives. He was also smaller than Ianto had expected, and slimly built. Scrappy, they would have called him, if he’d grown up in Ianto’s neighbourhood.

Jack went to introduce them, finally, but the man interrupted him. “Captain John Hart.” He said, in a tone like he expected Jack to argue.

“We go back.” Was all Jack said, seemingly resigned to the situation, but clearly extremely unhappy.

“Excuse me,” Hart was affronted, “We _more_ than go back. We were partners.”

“In what way?” Ianto was mentally kicking himself before the words were halfway out of his mouth.

Jack looked shifty, nervous, but Hart’s expression was calculating as he looked Ianto in the eye.

“In every way.” He didn’t hide the gloat in his tone, “And then some.”

“It was two weeks!” Jack protested

“Except that two weeks was trapped in a time loop, so we were together for five years.” Hart gave the team a long-suffering smile, “It was like having a wife.”

“You were the wife.” Jack shot back.

“ _You_ were the wife!”

“No, _you_ were the wife.” Jack’s tone got a little playful as he relaxed into the reminiscence.

“Oh, but I was a good wife!” Hart grinned.

“I bet you were!” Tosh piped up. Ianto was sure that her eyes would be emitting sparkling hearts if they could have.

“What?” spluttered Owen in disbelief.

“Don’t pretend you hadn’t noticed – he’s cute!” Tosh pouted.

“They’re just shy.” Hart smirked at her, making her blush a little.

“What are you doing here?” Jack demanded, trying to get the encounter back on track – and, most likely, over with.

“I wondered when we’d get to that,” Hart said, as though he hadn’t been distracting everyone, and began to fiddle with a familiar strap on his wrist.

“That’s the same as yours!” Tosh observed to Jack, who scowled.

“A little smaller.” He muttered

“But lasts _much_ longer.” Hart snarked back, rolling his eyes, “Get two Time Agents in the same room together, it’s always about the size of the wriststrap.”

“Yes, sorry, what’s a Time Agent?” Owen was clearly getting a bit fed up of all the vagueness, and Ianto couldn’t help but agree. Hart looked surprised,

“What? He’s never told you about his past?”

“No he hasn’t.” Said Gwen, who was always frustrated by the enigma that was Captain Jack Harkness. Ianto kept quiet, sharing a sympathetic glance at an increasingly uncomfortable looking Jack.

Hart either picked up on this himself, or was similarly bored with the encounter, as he instead returned to the reason for his visit. He explained about his hunt for radiation cluster bombs a late colleague warned him had been scattered throughout the city by the Rift.

“They need to be neutralised.” He insisted.

“What do you get out of this?” Jack clearly didn’t trust him.

“Dying woman’s wish.” Hart shrugged, “Now, there’s only one problem – I don’t know where they are. Hoping local knowledge might help.”

“When we get back to the Hub, I can run a city-wide scan on radiation surges and cross-reference that with the Rift activity during that time span.” Tosh babbled, excited at the prospect of a scavenger hunt.

“What are you, the brains and the beauty?” Hart purred, clearly delighted to peak someone’s interest, “You see? Together it’s an easy job!”

“We do this, you get out of here when it’s finished.” Jack insisted, clearly not happy. “Right away.”

“Does this mean I get to see your house?”

Ianto’s eyeroll was probably visible from space....

 

“You live in a _sculpture_... Could you be any more pretentious?”

Most people Jack introduced to the Hub via the 'roof access' were impressed, but apparently not this 'Captain John Hart'. Ianto could hear his derisive comments as he and the team walked down the Plass towards the Visitor Centre entrance. He wasn't entirely sure why he was still tagging along, but it seemed old habits did indeed take a long time to die.

“It's roomy, I'll give you that.” Hart continued as he and Jack reached the main level. “Your taste in interior design hasn't gotten any better though – what is this, sewer chic?”

“Weapons.” Jack demanded, not rising to the bait. Hart huffed a little but handed over his guns and the ceremonial sword draped at his hip. These were promptly deposited on the giant silver platter Ianto had retrieved for this exact purpose – he reasoned that a show of team unity was the best tactic in front of this volatile semi-stranger, so he chose to act like he wasn't merely a former team member dragged along for the ride. The grateful twinkle in Jack's eyes as their gazes met showed he appreciated the gesture.

Plus he was probably hoping this meant Ianto would make some coffee....

“And the rest.” Jack said, his focus quickly returning to Hart.

“Oh, you know me – I'm a two-weapon man!” Hart smirked, not even trying to look innocent.

“One pistol strapped to each leg,” Gwen read off the display of a weapons scanner Tosh and Jack had developed over a year ago, “Laser knife beneath left elbow, seventeen small explosive charges in the lining of his coat...” She looked up and gave him her sweetest 'Gotcha!' smile. Ianto fought hard not to grin himself, maintaining his 'passive butler' persona, but it was difficult when he could see Tosh trying to hide a giggle from across the room.

“It slipped my mind.” Hart shrugged, his expression sour.

 

Bringing coffee to the briefing room was a head-trip in a night full of nostalgia, but it almost felt like no time had passed at all. The rest of Team Torchwood seemed to have picked up on Ianto's pretence and, since Jack had raised no objections, were going along with it too. He got nothing more than grateful smiles as he handed each person their drinks, but even that was more acknowledgement than he used to get.

Jack and Gwen seemed to be in the middle of some kind of power struggle over who was in charge of the upcoming mission, with an amused Hart egging them on. It frustrated Ianto that the two still hadn't resolved their issues over Jack's disappearance; while he could sympathise with how she was feeling, this was the time to put such things aside and behave with some professionalism.

When Gwen split them all into three groups, Ianto was pleasantly shocked to have been paired with Jack, though a little apprehensive at the thought of Gwen alone with Hart. Jack seemed to share his concern, as he asked her to remain behind as everyone left to prepare.

“Oh! Can I watch this bit?” Hart still had that insufferable smirk on his scrawny face. “He's going to give you all the do's and don'ts. I love it!”

Jack pointed to the doorway, looking every inch the leader, “She'll be with you in a second.”

Hart obediently left the room, but hovered in the corridor outside, where Ianto was clearing away the coffee cups. So it was only right that he remain also, surely? Just to keep an eye on their unwelcome guest. Not to listen in on the conversation himself....

The pair kept their voices low, but their body language was extremely tense and antagonistic. Jack seemed to hit a nerve after a minute or so, as Gwen's protest of “I would _never_!” was clearly heard by both men.

“Has he got to the no-kissing rule yet?” Hart called back into the room, “He only invented that because he wants me all to himself!” He threw Ianto a wink, but the Welshman clamped his jaw tightly closed, not wanting to let this arsehole know how to get a response out of him. Gwen charged out of the room, shoving Hart into motion ahead of her.

“Keep in front.”

 

“Oh yeah, loving that 'office-y' feel!” Jack seemed almost giddy as they surveyed the call centre floor of the British Gas office on Churchill Way. It was a sharp contrast to the tense silence on the drive over, which Ianto had tolerated since Jack was clearly processing and needed some space to regroup, “I always get excited in these places – to me, they're exotic! Office romances, photocopying your butt.. well, maybe not your butt, although as we're here why don't we-”

“The rift was active at these co-ordinates approximately two hundred feet above ground,” Ianto interrupted, knowing Jack's one-track mind and aware they didn't have time for even his usual innuendo-laced banter, “That means this floor or the roof.” He looked around at the dozens of workstations around them. This was going to be tough to search through.

Jack watched him, suddenly pensive, “How are you, Ianto?” he asked, tentatively. Ianto frowned, his mind still whirring with figuring their best plan of action, since Jack clearly wasn't in the headspace.

“I'm fine, if a little head-tripped by being around you lot all night. Plus there's the fact I actually have work in the morning...”

“Sorry you got pulled into this.” Jack looked contrite, “Though I won't say I'm not happy to have you with me.” He paused for a moment, “While I was away, I was thinking... maybe we could, when all this is done... dinner? A movie?”

Ianto stopped searching through the desk in front of him and blinked at Jack in surprise. “Are you asking me out on a date? A proper one?”

“Interested?” Jack leaned on the support pillar, trying unsuccessfully to look nonchalant.

“Well as long as it's not in an office,” Ianto quipped, masking his own nerves through his usual sardonic humour, “Some fetishes should be kept to yourself.”

“Looks like we're going to have to search through every drawer, bin and plant pot.” Jack observed, finally focusing on the task in hand. All the nervous tension seemed to have abruptly left him, which surprised Ianto. Who would have thought asking him on a date would make the mighty Jack Harkness nervous? There were obviously a lot of things about him that had changed during his time away.

“Right, okay,” Ianto agreed, recognising that Jack was out of his element in this environment, “I'll do this floor – don't want you getting over-excited!” Jack chuckled, “You take the roof. You're good on roofs.” They shared a brief smile, then Jack nodded and headed for the lift lobby. There was still something on Ianto's mind, however.

“Jack?”

Jack turned around, his face questioning.

“Why are we helping him?”

Jack's expression closed up, his good humour replaced by tension.

“He's a reminder of my past. I want him gone.”

Ianto chewed his lower lip, but said nothing. Jack turned to go through the door, but then paused.

“By the way, was that a yes?”

Knowing that Jack was referring to his request for a date, and also that time was getting away from them, Ianto could only offer a distracted “Yes, yes...” as he settled in to searching in earnest for the radiation canister. Jack seemed to accept this as he slipped out without another word, the door clicking shut followed moments later by the sound of the roof access door opening and closing.

Ianto shook his head in bemusement. Trust Jack to pick such a moment to make overtures. The nerves were an interesting development though. Since when had Jack been nervous about asking to spend time with Ianto? Granted he was usually propositioning him in his office, or a dark corner of the Archives, but-

At that moment, he was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a lift arriving. Ianto was instantly on alert, as the office should be deserted at this ungodly hour. He reached into his jacket for the gun he was still inexplicably carrying, and headed out into the lobby as quietly as he could. The lift doors were still open, but he couldn't see anyone inside. Before he could turn to check any of the other corners of the lobby, he felt the cool metal of a gun pressed to the back of his head. _'Fuck...'_ he thought, closing his eyes in brief annoyance, adrenaline spiking from fear, _'I never was any good out in the field...'_

“Into the lift, Eye-Candy.” Hart drawled, giving Ianto's head a light shove with the end of his gun. Ianto turned around to face him as he complied, allowing his anger to show on his face. If this prick was here, what had he done to Gwen?

John relieved him of his gun, smug in having the upper hand.

“Your friends are bleeding, and dying, and you barely have enough time to save them.” he boasted.

Ianto tapped the ear-comm Tosh had supplied him with before they left.

“Owen? Gwen?”

Hart scoffed, “What am I, a child? It's a primitive bit of technology, easily blocked – you should be ashamed.” He waved Ianto's gun in a shooing motion, “When you get to the bottom, run. You look like a man who enjoys a challenge – see if you can save them.” His mischievous eyes turned cold, “Come back up here, I'll shoot on sight.”

“Going down.” The lift's automated systems chimed

“Going down – yes please.” Hart's gaze drifted up and down Ianto's body as the lift closed, making him feel slightly sick. Ianto forced the doors to remain open, glaring at Hart in open fury.

“Why are you doing this?”

Hart snorted derisively, “We're a cosmic _joke_ , Eye-Candy. An accident of chemicals and evolution. The jokes, the sex, just cover the fact that nothing means anything. And the only consolation? Is _money_. So run, Ianto Jones!”

The doors closed then, and Ianto let out a loud growl of frustration, kicking at the lift wall behind him. _Damn him!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are at last - the end of this particular story! I've had fun writing it, despite the time it took me, and I'm already making a start on the next bit I want to tackle. Thank you for sticking with me, and I hope you're enjoying this take on Season Two as much as I am!

The ride to the ground floor was agonisingly slow, and Ianto was running for the SUV before the doors had finished opening. If the others were hurt, his best option was to find Owen first – provided he was in any fit state himself, he was the best one to tend to any injuries the girls had suffered.

He checked the signal on his 'phone, which appeared to no longer be jammed. Multiple attempts to call Jack as he drove were unsuccessful. Ianto's next call was to Gwen, but again the line just rang and rang, so she was obviously incapacitated in some way, and Owen and Tosh's phones were still jammed.

“Damn it!” he muttered, heading for Tosh and Owen's last known location. It seemed to take forever to reach the warehouse on Leckwith Moors, and when he got there the door had been padlocked shut. Thankfully there was a crowbar in the back of the SUV so he was able to pry the lock off, the adrenaline coursing through his system granting him a little more strength.

“Tosh!” He yelled, trying to find his bearings in the maze of shelving full of discarded old electronics, “Owen!”

“We're over here!” He heard Tosh's voice, just off to his right. Turning a corner, he almost ran into Tosh, whose face looked a bit bloodied but otherwise she seemed okay. Behind her, a few feet away, he could see Owen on the floor, propped up against some shelves and treating a wound to his side.

“What happened?” he asked, though he had some idea.

“Where's Gwen?” Tosh was frantic, “Have you heard from Gwen?”

Ianto shook his head, “Hart was at the British Gas office alone – sent me away to come find you. Said you were all hurt and dying. Think he wanted to get Jack alone.”

“That doesn't sound good.” Owen gritted out, trying to get to his feet, “Jack's a big boy, he can handle himself – we need to fine Gwen, and fast.”

 

If Ianto thought the warehouse had been difficult, locating Gwen amongst the cargo trailers at the shipping yard seemed almost impossible.

“If she's in one of these, we'll never find her! There's too many.”

“Just keep looking.” Tosh insisted, trying to locate Gwen with her PDA and evidently having no more luck.

Owen hauled open another trailer door with a pained groan. “Oh god, I need more painkillers!”

“I'll try her 'phone again.” Ianto pressed redial, and this time they could hear Gwen's ringtone somewhere nearby. They quickly located the device, but Gwen herself was no-where to be seen.

“She must have dropped it.” Owen muttered, his face grim from concern as much as from pain.

“Unless it's another of Captain John's tricks.” Tosh worked frantically at her PDA.

“What are you doing?” Ianto asked.

“If Gwen used her phone here, I can use the network to triangulate the location where she answered her last call... Got it!” She darted down a pathway to her left, “This is where she made the call – open every container door!”

The three of them set to work immediately, but it was Tosh herself who called out a few moments later. “She's in here!”

Gwen was lying on the floor of the empty container, her eyes open but otherwise there was no apparent reaction to their arrival.

“Gwen? It's alright, we're here with you!” Tosh soothed. “What happened?” She asked Owen as he quickly examined her, “What has he done to her?”

“She's still breathing,” Owen reported, “No discernible injuries. Ianto, take a swab.” Ianto nodded, reaching into Owen's pack for the swab kit as Owen waved a small penlight in each of Gwen's eyes. “Right, pupils dilating, she's still conscious. Stay with us, darlin'.”

Taking the requested sample, Ianto handed Tosh the swab so she could run its results through the med scanner.

“He's poisoned her!” she gasped.

“Anti-toxin kit now!” Owen snapped. Ianto quickly retrieved it and passed it over. He sat back and let the two of them work to save their colleague, ready to pass anything else they might need but otherwise out of his element. His medical knowledge was limited to what he'd had to do to keep Lisa alive after she'd been partially converted by the Cybermen, and then she'd been able to coach him through everything. This wasn't the time to go down that mental rabbit hole of improbability, however.

What seemed like an eternity later, but was actually only a couple of minutes, Gwen began to respond to treatment, and Owen declared her safe to be moved. Tosh and Ianto helped her to the car, though she was almost steady on her feet again by the time they reached it.

“What's our next move?” Ianto asked, buckling into the driver's seat. He was the only uninjured person present, so it made sense to take over the driving.

“Do we have a location on Jack?” Gwen asked groggily from the backseat, where Owen was continuing to monitor her vitals.

“His 'phone's still on Churchill Way,” Tosh reported, “But his wrist-strap just triggered the Watertower entrance of the Hub.”

“Not the regular entrance?” Ianto frowned, “Jack only uses that way in to show off to visitors.” That didn't sound right. Without a second thought, he set off back in the direction of the town centre.

 

Ianto's instincts proved to be on the money. He left his wounded companions in the SUV and ran up the stairs to the courtyard of the British Gas office. There he found Jack lying across the back of the bench, obviously having taken a fall off the roof.

“Shit, Jack...” he groaned, his heart wrenching at the sight. He was strangely grateful the immortal hadn't yet revived, as coming back to life in that position was likely to be especially painful. As quickly and carefully as he could, Ianto lifted Jack off the bench and on to the ground. That way when he did revive he was unlikely to cause himself further injury with his inevitable flailing.

Sure enough, he'd barely laid him flat when Jack gasped back to life, looking around himself frantically.

“Shush, cariad, it's okay.” Ianto crooned quietly, running his fingers through Jack's hair as his disorientation passed.

“Ianto?” Jack croaked, reaching up to make contact with Ianto's hand, further grounding himself. “The others-”

“Are all in the car.” Ianto assured him, “Battered and bruised, but they'll recover. What happened? You fell? From the roof?”

Jack nodded, sitting up with a grimace, “I found the canister just as John found me. I threw it off the roof as we argued, and he pushed me off too.”

Ianto winced in sympathy. Two hundred feet was a long way to fall, and to break your fall with the back of a park bench... he couldn't even begin to imagine. He rose to his feet, then helped Jack up. The older man winced as his spine finished realigning itself properly.

“Hart looks to have gone back to the Hub,” Ianto said, “Used your wrist-strap to gain access.”

Jack instinctively checked his wrist, realising his trusty strap was indeed missing. He scowled in frustration.

“Let's get back there and find out what he's doing. The nerve of some people, breaking into my home...”

 

Knowing the giant cog door they usually entered the Hub through would loudly announce their arrival, the team and Ianto opted to sneak into the Hub through the carpark entrance down near the Archives. They kept their guns drawn as they silently searched the main level for the intruder, Owen scowling angrily when they heard activity in his med bay. Approaching the entrance, they saw Hart had the Blowfish from earlier – and _Iesu Grist_ had it only been a few hours? Ianto shook his head in bemusement - out on the examination table, and was removing a beeping device from the alien’s suit pocket.

“Had to go and steal a car, get yourself noticed….” Hart scoffed derisively at the corpse. The team exchanged looks mixed with surprise and frustration. So the two events _were_ connected, and Hart’s scheme went deeper than they’d originally thought. But why? What was actually in those canisters he’d had them retrieve, and why did he need to eliminate or otherwise incapacitate the Torchwood team once they’d found them?

On the counter near the examination table were the now empty canisters, and what looked to be a three-piece puzzle shaped like a hollow triangle. In Hart’s hand was the device he’d retrieved from the Blowfish, a tetrahedron shape that would fit perfectly in the centre. As Hart made to put the pieces together, Jack motioned for the team to break cover, staying back himself to maintain the illusion he was still dead.

Hart turned at the sound of all four of their guns being cocked simultaneously. His expression only gave away mild surprise, however.

“Okay, pretty _and_ resilient,” He quipped, “Is that even fair?”

“Maybe you didn’t realise,” Gwen bit out, “You can beat, shoot, threaten and even poison us, and we keep coming back. Stronger every time.”

Hart shook his head, “Well, I think you ought to know your boss is splayed out on the-.” His eyes widened in shock as Jack made his appearance in the doorway, behind the others. “-pavement. Now that’s impressive.” He swallowed hard, trying desperately to regroup. It must have been the first time a victim had returned to confront him. “Seriously, you can earn a fortune in the Vegas galaxies with an act like that. Go on, how’s it work?”

“I can’t die.” Jack stated, leaning on the railing of the observation level, still needing a little support while he finished recovering, but wanting to appear strong and confident in front of their uninvited guest.

“Huh.” Hart looked intrigued, “No, but really?”

“No, but really. You can’t kill me. No matter how many times you try, I can’t die. Ever.”

“But what does it cost you?” Hart questioned, as Jack began his descent down the stairs to confront him face to face. It took everything Ianto had not to reach out to him as he passed, but the unified defence was key to all of this. “Every time you have to drag yourself back here, how does it feel? All that pain and trauma. Plus you’re reborn into this godforsaken mess. I pity you.”

Ianto fought to hide a scowl. Up until that last line, he’d been surprisingly impressed with Hart’s empathy for Jack’s unique condition, in a way even the rest of the team didn’t always grasp. He instinctively understood that coming back was no picnic for Jack. Any goodwill he’d gained from the Welshman was lost with the throwaway slur against their home, however, and Jack clearly agreed with Ianto.

“These people, this planet – all of the beauty you could never see,” he said, his tone dark, “ _That’s_ what I come back for.”

“Well goody on you.” Was all the rejoinder Hart could manage, clearly intimidated by having the angry immortal up in his face.

“What’s in the canisters?” Gwen demanded, cutting off the pair’s confrontation and dragging them all back on track.

“It’s come clean time, _Captain_.” Owen agreed.

“Yeah, alright.” Hart’s mental gear shift was visible as he turned away from Jack to address the whole room. “The woman I told you about had herself an Arcadian diamond. It’s the rarest gem in the Damascene Cluster. And just when I’d got my hands on her, she only generates her own personal Rift-storm.” He shook his head, “God I hate technological geniuses!”

“You said this was a dying woman’s request!” Tosh protested.

“Yeah, she was dying. I shot her. Thought my luck had changed when I found out it had ended up here.” Hart’s demeanour changed as he ramped up the charisma, clearly setting up his sales pitch in the face of the group’s hostility, “So! I’m thinking fifty-fifty – even split, good deal. Or if anyone fancies an orgy….”

Ianto rolled his eyes, horrified at the thought. Then his treacherous brain began contemplating the idea – not with Hart, god no! But Jack always had joked about introducing Ianto to more… avant garde activities….

 

They reconvened in Jack’s office to learn more about the strange device Hart had caused all this disruption to retrieve. Ianto was privately relieved, as he’d never particularly liked spending time in the Morgue, and that Blowfish corpse had begun to get a little fragrant.

The Star Wars allusions from earlier that night continued, as putting all the pieces together triggered a holographic projection of a beautiful woman dressed in white, but then everything went to hell again when the device converted into a very nasty looking disc that embedded itself in Hart’s chest with very painful looking claws. The team and Ianto looked on in horror as the holographic woman informed them it was rigged to explode in ten minutes.

“She can’t be serious – _ten minutes_?” Gwen protested, as Hart cried “Get it off me!”

“Actually, nine minutes fifty…forty-nine…forty-eight….” Ianto held up his trusty stopwatch, “Always at the ready!” he quipped, in a vain attempt to release a fraction of the tension in the room. The stopwatch had been left to him by his grandfather, and he’d always kept it close, even before he and Jack had found some fun games to play with it.

“Okay, how big is this likely to be, Jack?”

“That technology, that size? Big.” He replied.

“So we should really get him out of the city.” Said Owen.

“Nine minutes thirty-seven.” Ianto informed them, wondering how on earth they would do that, when it took at least that long to get out of the urban areas even when the roads were clear. The fields out by Eastbrook were probably their best option, but could they make it in time to get themselves to safety?

“You’ve got to help me, _please_!” begged Hart, all bravado gone.

“Why?” Jack challenged. Ianto blinked in surprise – did they have time to argue with a desperate man? As if to prove his point, Hart punched Jack in the face and grabbed Gwen by the arm. In the ensuing tussle, he managed to handcuff himself to her, swallowing the key so they had no choice but to increase their efforts to save him or face losing Gwen also.

“Would shooting him stop the trigger?” Owen asked. Jack responded that it wouldn’t.

“So what are we going to do now, team?” Hart demanded, “The orgy’s still on offer, by the way. Especially now I’ve got the cuffs out.”

“Nine minutes four seconds.” Ianto pointed out, deftly derailing that particular line of conversation.

“Tosh, the Rift Predictor programme – have you perfected it yet?” asked Gwen.

“Pretty much.” Toshiko confirmed.

“Anything in the next few minutes?”

“Gwen, no way!” Jack protested as Hart demanded an explanation, his panic rising as each second passed.

“If we’re in the Rift when the disc explodes, the city will be safe.” Gwen insisted.

“How does that save us?” Hart demanded.

“It doesn’t.”

“Eight thirty-two… thirty-one….” Ianto couldn’t keep the anxiety out of his own voice. Time was running out – they really needed to make a decision quickly.

“You’re bluffing.” Said Hart.

“Try me.” Gwen’s expression was stony.

“The car park where he arrived,” Tosh called from her work station, “The crack in the Rift is still active up there.”

Ianto’s heart lifted a little. The NCP on Wood Street was pretty close – if they could find a way to free Gwen before they had to use the Rift….

“Right, that’s where we’re going.” Gwen stated, obviously thinking the same thing.

“Somebody better start doing _something_ ,” said Owen, “Cut his hand off?”

Toshiko shook her head, “That would activate the bomb.”

Gwen prodded Hart into motion, “Don’t make me pull you. Get up the stairs, now.” Together they headed towards the SUV, Tosh and Ianto at their heels. Jack moved to follow them, but was pulled aside by Owen, who indicated with his head to join him in the Morgue. Jack briefly locked eyes with Ianto, who nodded, understanding that they would follow as quickly as they could.

 

“Five minutes, twenty-two seconds.” Ianto advised, not caring if his frequent time checks were irritating the others. They needed to maintain focus, and time was fast running away from them. The sun was already up by this point, and they passed the early risers as they sped down Lloyd George Avenue.

“I can’t find the frequency the device works on.” Tosh was frustratedly tapping at her console in the backseat of the SUV, “There’s no chance of jamming it.”

“What’s happened to Jack?” Gwen scowled as she drove, “He should be here.”

“What I’ve been saying all along – unreliable.” Hart observed, his familiar bravado now hiding his anxiety at his imminent death.

“Shut up.” Gwen snapped.

“He and Owen will be along in a bit.” Ianto tried to reassure her, even though he had no idea what the pair were doing.

“I think I’m starting to see what he likes about this place.” Hart commented, eyeing the passers-by with interest, “She’s beautiful, he’s gorgeous-.”

“Don’t you ever stop?” Gwen exclaimed.

“What? Five minutes to live and you want me to behave? _Oh_ , that’s _gorgeous_!”

“That’s a poodle.”

“That’s _nice_!”

 

“Fifty-one seconds!” said Ianto as they all exited the SUV on the top floor of the carpark. They could actually see the opening in the Rift in front of them.

“You’re not really going to sacrifice yourself, are you?” Hart asked Gwen.

“Forty-five seconds!”

“We have to go!” Gwen insisted.

“No, no, no – woah!” Hart dug his heels in, resisting Gwen’s attempts to pull him forward towards the Rift opening, “What about a last minute rescue? What’s the point of being on a team if you don’t get a last minute rescue?”

“Forty seconds!” Ianto advised. Gwen turned to him, expression serious.

“Tell.. tell Jack I…” she struggled to finish the sentence, and Ianto was grateful for it. He didn’t know how he would respond if she said what it sounded like she wanted to say. Was Jack seriously her final thought? What about Rhys, her fiancé?

Thankfully he didn’t need to worry, as Jack and Owen picked that moment to arrive, jumping out of Owen’s convertible like the Big Damn Heroes they believed themselves to be. Ianto’s heart leapt – did they come up with a solution? He quickly checked the stopwatch.

“ _Thirty seconds_!” he called out. This was cutting things _way_ too close.

“Now what’s he doing?” Hart demanded. Jack charged towards him. He knocked Hart, and Gwen with him, to the floor of the carpark, and injected something directly into Hart’s chest.

“Argh! Get off me!” Hart protested. Jack leaned back, looking worried.

“Owen, it’s not working!”

“ _Fifteen seconds_!” warned Ianto.

“What are you doing?” Gwen asked.

“Trying to confuse the disc.” Owen explained.

“Why hasn’t it worked?” Jack demanded.

“I don’t know!”

“ _Twelve seconds_!”

“Jack, do something!” pleaded Tosh, but what more could Jack do? They were out of both time and options.

“I’ve got to go, Jack.” Gwen insisted sadly. Between them they hauled Hart to his feet – and with their movement the device released its grip on his chest and tumbled to the floor.

“Five… four… three…” Ianto called out, bringing everyone back to focus after the surprise. Jack grabbed the disc and tossed it into the Rift. “Two… one…”

“Go! Run!” Jack yelled. Everyone turned and high-tailed it towards the cars. The explosion hit just before the Rift closed, the resulting shockwave sending them all flying. Ianto collided with Owen’s car, knocking his head hard enough to leave him stunned, but still conscious. It did take him a moment to realise that the unexpected darkness was not due to a head injury.

“What the hell?” Hart looked around in confusion, taking in the streetlights and other obvious indicators of a busy town centre at night.

“Jack, what’s going on? Why’s it gone dark?” asked Gwen.

“The Rift’s reverted to the moment he came through.” Jack guessed, “Everything’s jumped back to the beginning of the night.”

“Like you were never here.” Gwen said to Hart.

“Now we’ve got to avoid ourselves.” Jack sighed, “Great.”

“It’s a temporal displacement.” Hart said cheerfully, “Makes your tongue tingle, doesn’t it? It’s lovely!”

Gwen turned to Owen, “What was in the syringe?”

“Torchwood DNA.” The Medic replied.

“What?”

“DNA samples from the five of us, fused and injected into his heart. It temporarily disrupted his DNA coding, and confused the disc.”

“You mean there’s a bit of all of you inside of me?” Hart looked a little nauseated at the thought, and Ianto couldn’t help but agree, “Sweet goddesses, that’s all I need!”

“Thank you, Owen.” Gwen smiled, softly. He nodded in acknowledgement.

“You’re welcome.”

“I want you gone.” Jack told Hart, his tone brooking no argument.

“Well, we’ve got to work out a way to get these off first.” Gwen shook her wrist, which was still shackled to Hart.

“Actually…” Hart set his centre of gravity, leaning his head back, and proceeded to pull the key out of his mouth with a smirk. Ianto didn’t know if he wanted to smack the smug grin off his face or gasp in awe at the impressive trick.

“Old Artesian trick.” Hart continued, unlocking the cuffs, “Keep it in the lining of the throat. Has a lot of uses.”

“You had that all along?” Gwen glared at him.

“You were my passport to survival. No hard feelings? Well, not in that sense…” He leered. Gwen’s face hardened, then she punched him right in the nose. Hart reeled back in shock.

“Remind me never to get on your bad side!” Ianto quipped, feeling no sympathy for their unwanted visitor. Jack gave Gwen an approving nod, before gesturing for Hart to return his wrist-strap. He put it back on with his own satisfied smirk.

“Definitely bigger.”

Hart rolled his eyes. “If you need a new team member-.”

“No.” Jack cut him off.

“Really? I could-.”

“No.”

“But-.”

“ _No_.” Jack’s tone was final, “Go now and you can harness the residual Rift energy.”

“Listen-.” Hart pressed.

“ _Goodbye_.”

Hart sighed, but seemed to accept Jack wasn’t going to change his mind. Ianto watched in dismay as he tried to kiss Jack farewell, but the other man did not respond to his advances, and that seemed to finally convince Hart. With another sigh, he activated his own wrist-strap and the Rift appeared in front of him. As he stepped in, he turned back to look at Jack one last time.

“Oh, by the way! I meant to tell you – I found Gray…”

Jack’s face went pale, and a once-again smirking Hart disappeared into the Rift. It closed behind him with a woosh.

“Who’s Gray?” Gwen asked, as per usual voicing the question on everyone’s minds. Jack visibly shook himself back into focus.

“It’s nothing.” He said dismissively, “Let’s go. We need to avoid running into ourselves until morning.”

Gwen looked like she was going to argue, as usual, but Ianto could tell Jack was not in the headspace to deal with that right now.

“You’re all welcome to wait it out back at mine.” He offered. Jack smiled warmly at him, and Tosh jumped in excitement at getting to visit Ianto’s house again. She’d been such a big help finding it when he’d first left Torchwood, and it had made him sad she’d had to stay away. Owen looked ameniable to the idea, and Gwen nodded her agreement.

In a weird way, Ianto was glad of the ‘temporal displacement’. After all, he did still have work in the morning…


End file.
